Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
aptz

Proactive pest/disease control

aptz
10 years ago

I have a daughter and her husband who'd like to start up a new vegetable garden around the St. Louis, MO area and they're wondering what if anything should be done to control pests/disease before signs are found there's damage lurking? It's a new garden so I don't know how to get a sense of what might be up ahead for them and none of their neighbors have had gardens recenty either. They do live out in a rural area close to a lake and forest so it was pretty easy to suggest a fence for deer, rabbits, etc. Also, I suggested to always keep a clean garden. But, I'm wondering what you'd suggest for a good integrated pest and disease management program if they want to try and head the critters off at the pass so to speak?

Comments (5)

  • laceyvail 6A, WV
    10 years ago

    As an organic gardener, I find the best way to have a mostly pest free garden is to encourage a healthy ecology in and around the garden. This means encouraging good bugs by planting plants that attract them--dill, fennel, and other flowering plants. The other important thing is to build healthy soil rather than shooting the plants up with commercial fertilizers.

    My gardens have many fewer pests than they had in the early years when the soil was poor and the ecology was not healthy.

  • digdirt2
    10 years ago

    Preventative disease management means things like proper garden hygiene, adequate sun exposure, proper plant spacing, mulching plants to avoid soil splash back, no overhead watering, and perhaps the use of fungicide sprays from the day of planting out to avoid airborne fungus diseases.

    Preventative critter management means proper fencing.

    But preventative pest management (bugs) is highly controversial and generally discouraged. Why? First, because any chemicals used should be pest-specific, not broad band. That means first knowing the actual pest is there and in sufficient numbers to do damage rather than a few passing through.

    Second, because the vast majority of pest control chemicals are NOT pest specific and the majority of the bugs in the garden are beneficial or neutral, anything used to kill the bad guys kills far more good guys.

    Better to recognize up front that bugs are a normal part of gardening and that some plant damage is to be expected and tolerated. Intervention should be after the fact, specific to the pest, and as minimal as possible.

    The best form of bad bug management is to encourage the development of good bugs.

    Dave

  • Deborah-SC
    10 years ago

    I have a healthy bird population. I keep bird baths full of clean water and there's lots of nesting in my yard. I have seen really no bad bug activity so far this year -- lots of lady bugs though. I'm growing cherry tomatoes, okra & bush beans.

  • kai615
    10 years ago

    Excellent answer Dave.

    Not my topic, but as I read through I realize I do everything you suggest in your answer except for mulch. I know, I have read it a hundred times in here, everyone says mulch, but until you said why I should mulch, it didn't really hit home.

    What do you mulch with? I definitely have a splash back problem. And more so now that we have been getting hit with very hard rain this year. I think I may need to stop being stupid and mulch.

  • christripp
    10 years ago

    I agree with Dave, accept that some leaves will be nibbled by bugs and slugs but, for the most part, they won't make much if any difference in your harvest. I do plant tight and heavy though, to the point that once the greens, such as kale, chard, bok choy and lettuces begin to grow, you can not see the soil any longer. They produce their own grown cover, no need to mulch, no weeds and good water retention. They may not grow as large, though I don't see any difference, and you end up with more food per sq foot. I then regularly "pick" from each plants just enough for a meal OR take a whole plant out here and there, making more space for the others. My bok choy seems a favourite of the bugs this year (slugs?) many holes but I eat those leaves all the same, and still plenty left without holes as well, further up the plant. My bok choy has bolted now, will plant more soon, but have just found out the flowers and especially the flower buds taste even better then the leaves themselves, like broccoli, bonus!
    I also do as lacyvail says, planting herbs and flowers that beneficial bugs are attracted to. Predators such as wasps, are a great help in the garden, attacking the veg eating pests. I keep dill and fennel out of the actual veg bed though, as they aren't always the best companions of veg.

Sponsored
Landscape Concepts of Fairfax, Inc.
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars17 Reviews
Northern VA's Creative Team of Landscape Designers & Horticulturists